Trends in births and deaths in the UK since 1900

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Trends in births and deaths in the UK since 1900 There has been a long-term decline in the number of births since 1900. However there have been a number of fluctuations in births with three ‘baby booms’ in the 20th century.  The first two came after both world wars in 1914-12 and 1939-45 and it is thought this is because of returning servicemen starting families with their partners that had to be postponed during the wars. In the 1960’s there was another fluctuation and the third baby boom, most probably due to the increase in the usage of drugs and the huge fad of party fever. In the 70’s the birth rates started to fall again because of the new divorce laws enforced around this time, meaning couples didn’t have to stay together to avoid the stigma of divorce and therefore didn’t feel the need to have children. The birth rate then rose in the 80’s. In the 90’s the birth rate fell again-again, probably due to women choosing to work more rather
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than play the role of ‘stay at home mum’ .As the position of women slowly started to change and they became more equal to men, it was more acceptable for them to be well educated, laws started changing to ensure women were paid just as much as men in same-role jobs and also the ease of access to abortion and reliable contraception allowed women to have more control over their fertility. Meaning the birth rate was slowly decreasing. The fertility rate also affects the birth rates. Fertility rate being the amount of children a woman will have in her fertile ...

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